Komen vs Planned Parenthood... weigh in

Two of the nation's most iconic women's health groups are engaged in a nasty fight that's raising a lot of eyebrows.

The breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen For the Cure is pulling about $700,000 in breast cancer screening and service grants from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The money isn't massive by either group's bottom line: Komen raised more than $400 million in 2010; Planned Parenthood's total revenue that year was over $1 billion.

But it apparently marks a new chapter in the ongoing abortion war, not to mention the battle to defund Planned Parenthood.

Komen's reason, according to The Associated Press (the organization didn't return NPR's calls or emails), was a new policy forbidding grants to organizations under official investigation. President Cecile Richards confirmed that in an interview.

Planned Parenthood is the subject of an inquiry launched last fall by House Energy and Commerce Investigative Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.

But members of Congress who back Planned Parenthood say that investigation is little more than the same allegations that have long been made — and not substantiated — against the group.

"This is a trumped-up investigation by some Republicans in the Congress who have a vendetta against Planned Parenthood," said Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California.

Planned Parenthood's Richards says she thinks the Komen Foundation has finally been pushed too far by pressure from anti-abortion groups. "I think what's really disturbing about seeing these right-wing attacks on groups like the Komen Foundation is we can't allow bullies to prevent women from getting the health care they need," she says.

But others say the pressure may have come from within the Komen organization itself. They point to the hiring last year of Karen Handel, a vice president who ran for governor in Georgia last year on a platform that included cutting state funds for Planned Parenthood.

Whatever the reason, it has outraged members of Congress like Colorado's Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat.

"I don't see two groups at war with each other," DeGette said. "I see the Komen Foundation declaring war on women's health. Planned Parenthood has done everything they've been asked to do. And with their own private money, with 3 percent of their services or less, they do abortions, which the last I heard were still legal in this country."

Anti-abortion groups, not surprisingly, are praising the Komen Foundation.

"The work of the Komen Foundation has lifesaving potential and should not be intertwined with an industry dealing in death," said Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life. Meanwhile, Steven Aden of the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal firm, said it "applauds Komen for seeing the contradiction between its lifesaving work and its relationship with an abortionist that has ended millions of lives."

But despite those plaudits, an even bigger question many are asking is, which of these huge and recognizable groups is likely to win this fight?

Deana Rohlinger, an associate professor at Florida State University who studies women's groups, thinks that while Planned Parenthood may lose this funding battle, it's likely to win the war.

Planned Parenthood is "an organization that has been around for a long time, and this isn't the first time it's seen a hit to its bottom line," she said. "It's gone without before, and I don't imagine that this is going to bring it down."

Komen, on the other hand, she says, has been seen, until now, as more about pink ribbons and T-shirts than politics.

Yet "by taking such a strong move, what they've done is made it more about abortion, potentially, than about women's health," she says. "And that could be problematic in terms of people that support the Komen Foundation. You're talking about a generally popular group, and some folks might reconsider participating."

This irks me. If anybody thinks that any Komen money was going towards abortion, then they have NO idea how non-profits work. Non-profits struggle for funding all the time, and if a donor (especially a huge one like Komen) says that they want their money spent on x, y and z, but not a, b, or c, then by cracky, the recipient toes the line. Does anybody honestly think that PP would be foolish enough to risk such a cash cow, by diverting earmarked funds? Seriously?

Besides. That's neither here nor there. The Komen Foundation's stated mission is to fight breast cancer. Full stop. It's not "Fight breast cancer while preventing abortions" or "Fight breast cancer while saving the whales" or "Fight breast cancer while reducing carbon emissions." It's "Fight breast cancer." So by scrapping funding to PP's cancer screening programs....HOW, precisely, does that further the goal of fighting breast cancer? It doesn't. So because of ONE person's ideology, the entire foundation has acted in violation of its mission.

And they've since reversed their decision, but have done it in a REALLY weaselly way: "We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants..."

How much you want to bet that any future grant applications from PP are going to mysteriously get lost in the mail? Anybody? Bueller?

Unless Karen Handel is canned, this is only so much Kabuki.

In the meantime, however, a LOT of people have learned about the great health services offered by PP, and have been moved to donate.

I guess when it comes to Planned Parenthood, you should never pull out when you're Komen...

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â¥âªMeganâ«â¥ - posted on 02/11/2012

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Jen so true! And they're acting as though they're being attacked because they don't believe that women should be having sex before marriage and in control of their reproductive system. Or should just rely on the rhythm method for controling their reproductive system.

Sorry, I was raised Catholic, but my mom also took me to PP to get my birth control pills and get Pap smears before I had my regular OBGYN. And I am high risk when I am pregnant- I nearly died having my last baby, so I want to make sure I can control when I'll get pregnant.

I had to chuckle at the RCC recently when I read about a woman who had embezzled a million dollars from a diocese. She didnt' live extravagantly but had a big love of anything from the Franklin Mint. The RCC had NO problem immediately contacting secular authorities to prosecute. Apparently that's a far worse sin to steal money from the church than to rape little children within.

But let's make sure those secular authorities don't force them to follow any other laws....

But I love my KFC... except here in Canada they don't have biscuits the fuckers!

Churches in the US are pissing me off now like you wouldn't believe. Especially the Catholic church because now they (like in every other industrialized nation) are required to cover contraceptives for everyone who works for their diocese. Jesus Christ- how dare they be required to follow a law here in the US like they do in other countries.

I've had problems with Komen for a while. I don't like how sue-happy they are with other legitimate charities. I think they sell the pink ribbon to anyone with the right cash (Kentucky Fried Chicken anyone?) and justify it by saying it's helping women.

However PP also helps women and in far more direct ways then Komen ever will. If all PP did was abortions, they'd be out of business. They do basic health screenings, treat STDS, vaccinate for them, are a phenomenal resource for birth control. They save lives in more real ways then SGK.

However, you say one thing about SGK (and I liken it to MOther Theresa) and suddenly you're anti-woman and you 're trying to stop them from stopping breast cancer. I lost any respect I had for them with these shenanigans. They've admitted their change in grants was done specifically to get rid of PP. If some churches wont' sell PINK FRICKEN BIBLES then fine! Those churches aren't really doing anything to help women anyway. They certainly aren't offering to pay for mammos in their own parish. Perhaps SGK can sell pink ribbon tanning boothes instead since they're open to putting their symbol on other carcinogens (KFC again).

when i was a new teenage mother PP would provide services for me that included paps and breast cancer screenings, birth control and info that trust me my preacher father wasn't giving. when i had questions they answered me and sent me in the direction of answers that they didn't have. To get in there for these services i i had to pass people protesting telling me not to abort...i didn't, that's why i am here thank you very much. I think Komen was under pressure and i also believe that people's personal agenda's and belief systems got in the way of what was right and very much apparent. I knew they would reverse their decision. There wasn't anyway they could justify anything else

Last I heard PP took in donations of $400,000 since Komen pulled their support, and the mayor (I think) of NY, NY has committed 250,000 to PP. Komen's support amounted to $600,000 per year.

It was mentioned by a Jackie Speier (D-CA) that the "investigation" is not a formal investigation by the judicial system, but rather a Representative requesting PP be investigated~ that is a lot different than a former investigation.

“Far be it for us to rely on the House of Representatives holding a hearing as being emblematic of justice because oftentimes it’s a political sandbox,” Speier said. “Now, this investigation is one that has been called on by Mr. Stearns who is the Subcommittee Chair of Energy and Commerce on Oversight. The hearing has never been held.”

“So why would Susan G. Komen take the remarkable step of saying they are no longer going to fund Planned Parenthood? I suppose when we review NIH and bring them under some investigation that they will stop funding NIH to the tune of $1 million, or I suppose that when we have a pharmaceutical company that we bring to the hill to ask them questions about a particular activity that they will stop accepting sponsor money from that particular pharmaceutical company.”

I had my first Pap done at a Planned Parenthood in my hometown and on GMA there were women talking about how they'd had cancer screenings done at PP. There is so much more to that organization than just safe and legal abortions.

I get American stations here in Canada and I heard this morning on GMA that after Susan G Komen removed their funding, over 100,000 USD was raised which is more than double what Planned Parenthood gets from Komen.

"Dr. Kathy Plesser, a Manhattan radiologist on the medical advisory board of Susan G. Komen for the Cure's New York chapter, said she plans to resign from her position unless Komen reverses its decision to pull grant money from Planned Parenthood.

"I’m a physician and my interest is women’s health, and I am disturbed by Komen’s decision because I am a very strong advocate for serving under-served women," Plesser told The Huffington Post. "Eliminating this funding will mean there’s no place for these women to go. Where are these women to go to have a mammography? Do they not deserve to have mammography?"

With her decision, Plesser joins Komen's top public health official, Mollie Williams, and the executive director of Komen's Los Angeles County chapter, Deb Anthony, both of whom also resigned in protest."